Consciousness returned in a snap and Megatron found himself online on a wide berth, residual taste of high-grade fading into nothing. The warlord onlined his optics and looked at the familiar ceiling of his Darkmount chamber. It was still dark, but few red rays illuminating black skies indicated the sun would be up soon.

He tentatively reached out with a servo, but the place beside him was empty. Frowning, he sat up. How dared the spy leave while he was off?!

The berth looked undisturbed, the room empty and neat. No signs of anybody's presence. The warlord maximized perception on the audials. His might be not the finest or most powerful, but when maxed out, he could hear the entire Darkmount.

And there was dead silence save for the soft noise of his own systems.

Anxious now, Megatron looked down at his own chassis. No paint transfers. He ran internal diagnostics. He had no contact for at least... for too long.

Had it all been a dream - the Fall of Iacon? Soundwave's revelations? Their fight and everything after? Was it just another reminiscence like remembering Starscream and Vos had been? Had he been dreaming all this time?

Did Soundwave induce this dream? What for?

/Soundwave?/

There was only silence.

/Starscream? Comm shift? Anyone?!/

There was only silence.

Reality caught up with him abruptly and nearly crushed his mind under its weight. An angry roar tore free from within and echoed through empty halls of his lifeless fortress. He was alone. They had all abandoned him! Left him on this tomb of a planet they once called home. Wait, no! He had ordered them to leave, but it still hurt they obeyed so easily.

It was true that he was losing his mind. Dark energon destabilized his spark, affected his thought process. His instability was becoming a hindrance to their Cause. But yet it hurt his spark to be so easily discarded.

Megatron grind his dentas. If he was to lose his mind, he definitely preferred to die and take the Prime with him. Destroy the autobots here, while there was no chance they escape or receive reinforcements. There was no hope for them on Cybertron or for Cybertron itself.

By his orders last remnants of energon were used to fill the tanks of Nemesis as the last decepticons left for the stars in search for an energy source and possibly a hope for a future after they wipe out autobot refugees.

Starscream gave only a token argument to his decision to stay behind, the joy of being left in charge of the entire faction too great to effectively hide. Megatron dismissed all his half-hearted objections with an impatient flick of his hand.

'Your logic is...arguable' - Shockwave said and his antennae shifted 'Once an energy source is discovered, we will check on you. The process may be reversible'.

Megatron didn't reply. They all knew that by the time that might happen, he would be either dead or insane.

Soundwave was staring at him so intently, that he could feel the telepath's gaze even though the spy's optics were hidden behind a glossy visor. Neither a word nor a comm came from the quiet mech. Yet his silence relayed way more than any words would.

'Go.' - was all their Lord said.

He didn't linger to watch the ship rise and fly away - he turned and walked off as soon as they reached Nemesis, but the silent gaze was still with him, even when the ship left Cybertron's orbit.

It had been a while back and he was keeping himself busy since, using his anger and fury to keep the madness at bay. Eleven autobots that were still on Cybertron, including Optimus, were now reduced to four, their energon used to sustain him. He couldn't afford staying his shots for the sake of saving the energy. However scarce energon was, time was more precious still. He had to take down the Prime before darkness fully claimed him.

Was it by chance, or by Unicron's benevolence, but he had barely suffered any physical damage so far. But darkness was lurking in the outskirts of his systems - a distant hum, a constant drill into his thoughts, and during recharge it claimed him completely, trapping him in the labyrinth of reminiscence and illusion. Sometimes they were even happy, those dreams. Every time he onlined it was getting harder to recognize a dream from reality.

He was alone. Such was the reality.

Cybertron's artificial sun cast red light upon silent towers of Kaon as he looked down from his spacious chamber in Darkmount at the tomb of his city.

To autobots, or to space itself, but he lost everyone. It didn't matter now, that autobots lost just as many. Even if he won this last fight, there was no future here. Somewhere beyond Kaon few remaining autobots were desperately licking their wounds now. Foolish bots! Eventually, scraplets will have them all. There was no way off the planet, not enough energy to fuel a space engine not to mention a space bridge.

Megatron looked straight at the sun. He had no desire to postpone the outcome.

The decepticon leader activated the commlink again, changing its frequency to high range used by both factions.

/Let's finish it. Come to Darkmount. Alone./

Three hundred seventy four steps up from his chambers to the top view platform of Darkmount usually took less than a breem to cover. Now he took time, giving each of these steps a split click of his attention and a look. Once up, Megatron sat on his throne and settled to wait, optics locked on the sun, his only moving companion remaining, as it made it's slow progress above.

He knew Optimus would not come alone, but it didn't matter. The more the merrier.